Monday, August 23, 2010

By now we all know that having a right is not the same as doing right. And we should also know that confrontational actions trump conciliatory words. As the old cliche says: actions speak louder than words.

Whatever his initial intention, once Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf saw the way New Yorkers and Americans were reacting to his plan to build an Islamic culture center and mosque at Ground Zero he should have offered to move it elsewhere. Out of respect... in the spirit of conciliation... to better relations between Muslims and America.

That he did not tells us most of what we need to know about the project.

Just in case you missed the point, the Imam's wife, Daisy Khan announced on ABC yesterday that Republican opponents of the mosque had gone beyond Islamophobia. They were indulging in "metastasized anti-Semitism." Link here.

Khan even compared her efforts to build a mosque at Ground Zero with the early efforts of Jews to build a synagogue in Peter Stuyvesant's Manhattan. As it happens, she got her facts completely wrong, as John Steele Gordon explains here.

More importantly, Khan was exploiting the basic reason that some New York Jews, from Michael Bloomberg to Frank Rich, have been supporting the mosque. These New Yorkers have bought the notion that Muslims are a persecuted minority group, just like the Jews and other groups that have suffered discrimination in America.

Standing up for the Islamic culture center and mosque is standing against anti-Semitism.

There is nothing very new here. Sophisticated leftists have long believed that the Palestinian cause is a fight against anti-Semitism. In their narrative, the Palestinians are really Jews, and the Israelis are really modern Nazis.

To fight against Israel, to work to destroy the Jewish state, is in the minds of many left thinking people, to fight against Nazis.

You might think this is something of a joke, worthy of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Alas, it is not.

Now that terrorist groups like Hamas are among the world's leading purveyors of anti-Semitism, to the point where they refuse to renounce terrorism and refuse to recognize the right of Israel to exist, they have duped left thinking people into seeing them as innocent victims of Zionist oppression.

As you know, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has never been able to find the moral fortitude to denounce Hamas.

And while his wife is trying to make the two of them into victims of malignant anti-Semitism, we can wait for the moment when Imam Rauf will repudiate the anti-Semitic remarks in the Quran (link here). We will also wait for him to denounce the anti-Semitism coming from both secular and religious leaders in Iran and Saudi Arabia?

As of now, no such denunciations have been forthcoming.On the contrary, the imam is looking to those countries for funding to build his mosque.

Considering that Muslims are the leading proponents of anti-Semitism in the world today, it takes a special kind of chutzpah for Daisy Khan to pretend to be a victim of anti-Semitism.

Yet, many of those who support the Islamic cultural center believe that they are fighting anti-Semitism. In their minds, fighting anti-Semitism means fighting against the Republican party and Fox News.

Thus, they side with the the Imam, against the majority of New Yorkers and Americans, because they have bought into a narrative that blames all anti-Semitism on the right wing. Keep in mind that this same right wing has counted among the most stalwart defenders of Israel.

But, left thinking people tell us, the brouhaha over the Ground Zero mosque is helping terrorists recruit new adepts. Recycled New York Times drama critic Frank Rich wrote yesterday that the war in Afghanistan is being undermined by Fox News, because its attacks on the mosque are a perfect recruiting tool for the Taliban. Link here.

If half of New York did not take Frank Rich seriously, I would simply dismiss his idea with the contempt that it so fully deserves.

Do you believe that the existence of a Mosque at the site of the 9/11 attacks would not be used as a propaganda tool to recruit terrorists? And since when did the terrorists need any special events to help in their recruitment efforts?

As a U. S. official said today, terrorists are opportunistic. They take what they can get and use it to their best advantage. Link here.

Besides, if America decides to make nice to Islam, does anyone really believe that the Taliban will put down its arms and embrace democracy in Afghanistan? Will it not persuade them that they are on the winning side, and thus make it easier for them to enlist new recruits?

The larger issue in the Ground Zero mosque debate concerns the international reputation of Islam. While it is surely true that the only people who are guilty of the September 11 attack are the perpetrators, it is also true that reputation is not entirely about guilt or innocence.

When a member of your family commits a crime, he and only he is guilty of the crime. He and only he deserves punishment.

And yet, for being affiliated with him, for bearing the same name, you will also bear a stigma. Everyone will know that you had nothing to do with the crime, but your name will still evoke the image of the crime, and this will function as something of a stigma.

The same applies to members of a community. It is surely true that only a small number of Catholic priests were molesting children. And yet, all Catholics feel some degree of embarrassment over the incidents, and especially over the Church's failure to act decisively against the priests who were abusing their position and authority.

Today Islam does not have a good reputation in the world, and that the fault lies for the most part with Muslims themselves. Not so much because they are all committing terrorist atrocities, or stoning adulteresses, or murdering their children to protect their honor, or fomenting anti-Semitism... but because moderate Muslims have been singularly ineffective in disconnecting these atrocities from their religion.

Some might say that we should blame the news media for reporting these abominations, but the truth is, if there was no reporting the same things would continue to happen.The best hope for putting an end to them is, in fact, public exposure.

When Frank Rich blames Fox News for the continued horrors committed by the Taliban he is implying that a news blackout or even an opinion blackout would serve our military or cultural purposes.

If Imam Rauf wants to improve the reputation of Muslims he should not have his wife slander opponents of his project as anti-Semites. Once she does it, she reminds us all of how pervasive anti-Semitism is in Islam today. And if really wants to make a gesture of conciliation, a gesture that would enhance the reputation, then he need but agree to move his cultural center and mosque.

Digging in his heels makes him look more intransigent in his failure to denounce the worst aspects of today's Islam. Keep in mind that this same imam, in an interview following 9/11 declared that Osama bin Laden was "made in America."

Speaking for Islam he should have said that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were produced in Muslim communities, and that they believe themselves to be following the dictates of the Quran. And he might have expressed his embarrassment that his religion had been identified with such horrors.

[Note: You might also be interested in Neo-neocon's analysis of anti-Semitism in Arab lands, in her blog today. Link here.]

21 comments:

SSS
said...

1. Jews are not a "persecuted minority.

2. ''Today Islam does not have a good reputation in the world, and that the fault lies for the most part with Muslims themselves. Not so much because they are all committing terrorist atrocities, or stoning adulteresses, or murdering their children to protect their honor, or fomenting anti-Semitism... but because moderate Muslims have been singularly ineffective in disconnecting these atrocities from their religion.''

How do you suggest they go about this?

They are ordinary people busy 24/7 taking care of their families and working hard to support those families. How do you suggest that such ordinary, regular folk without any pull prevent the lunatics from doing crazy things in the name of their religion?

Are you obliged to do something everytime a crazy Jew or Christian or Atheist or whatever belief group you belong to does something crazy?

Jews have been a persecuted minority, and Palestinians who try to identify with Jews insist that they are being persecuted by Israel for being a minority.

As for how they can go about this. That's easy. Imams can denounce and condemn honor killings from the pulpit. Muslim countries can prosecute people who commit honor killings. They can prosecute men who commit rape, rather than jail the women who are raped. They can condemn stonings. They can stop amputations. They can prosecute the boys who gang rape Christian girls. They can allow women more real freedom in their lives. They can make clear that bin Laden is a criminal. The Muslim country that has been harboring him can have him arrested and can turn him in for prosecution.

Of course, this would need to be proposed from the pulpit or the throne, from some seat of authority.

I do not think it is going to be easy to affect all of these changes, but exposing these practices to public view and general opprobrium is certainly a step in the right direction, one that can be done by the media.

1. ''That's easy. Imams can denounce and condemn honor killings from the pulpit.''

They are. But as you never go to a mosque, you wouldn't know this.

2. "Muslim countries can prosecute people who commit honor killings."

You can google and read about how Pakistan is doing this.

3. ''They can prosecute the boys who gang rape Christian girls. ''

As a busy working mom, how can I do this? There was a case of gang rape in my town and the criminals got "probation". I sympathized with the victim, but as a politically powerless and financially struggling ordinary American, what more can I do?

It's interesting--and utterly predictable--that the notion of antisemitism has been brought into the equation, and that it has been stood on its head: the Muslims have become the persecuted "Jews," and the Jews' three- thousand year old, abundantly documented history of, among other things, the most horrendous suffering and persecution is subsequently... erased! It just vanishes into thin air! To me this is part and parcel of a larger strategy of Holocaust denial and even denial of Jewish history and the Jews' historic connection to the land of Israel altogether....Yet there is another dynamic at work here (or, I should say at LEAST one other!)... Ultimately I think the Jews will be blamed for this latest kerfuffle, notwithstanding the Jewish mayor of New York's major, impassioned defense of the Mosque project. For the following reason: people everywhere simply find the Jews more "interesting" than Muslims, PROVIDED that they can be blamed for something: that is, vilified, demonized, delegitimized etc. It's the "blame the Jews game," it's played the world over, and it goes like this: "If you can't blame the Jews, you won't make the evening news!!!" In our topsy-turvy, upside-down world, there is a Muslim recognition that if no Jew is (negatively) implicated, no one cares, no one notices their "plight."This is why members of Fatah or Hamas (tragically) can and do kill each other off to complete planetary indiffence, whereas if it is (almost always wrongly) even vaguely suggested that the IDF or a Jew is responsible for a Palestinian's suffering or death, the world perks up its ears and violently condemns Israel....

The Mohammed Al Dura affair is to me but the most egregious of recent attempts by Muslims to make the news cycle in the most spectacular of ways by falsely condemning Jews.

Just a few thoughts that came to me on reading you. Great article, and interesting comments.

Khan even compared her efforts to build a mosque at Ground Zero with the early efforts of Jews to build a synagogue in Peter Stuyvesant's Manhattan.

It actually more like the Catholic church's attempt to place memorial crosses at Auchwitz. After some protests, the church near the camp realized that, although they "had the right," it was extremely inappropriate.

Stuart,actually...no. They aren't. In the UK Muslims are treated with nearly as soft 'kid gloves' as the women. The 'new black jews' are divorced white heterosexual men.A muslim man in the western world can not have his children taken from him, his house, his money, his livelyhood. And if this does happen many muslim men will kill the wife and children and then accept his prison sentence and be hailed something of a hero by his community. Muslim women rarely screw muslim men over in the courts because they KNOW they are dealing with death.

This is not so for white christian heterosexual men. Not even in slavery america did the slave masters pretend they could steal the children of a slave who was a man. Not even in nazi germany prior to hostilities did Hitler try to steal the sons of Jewish Men. Nope. The 'new black jew' is white heterosexual divorced fathers. These men are treated as badly as any man has been treated apart from maybe gladiators. Why do you think the suicide rate is so high?

In many ways it feels unfair that good Muslims are seeing their reputations tarnished by the actions of other Muslims.

And it is unfair. Unfortunately, the changes in the value of different reputations is not based on individual virtue.

If terrorists have hijacked Islam, then clearly it is for Muslims to take their religion back.

Or, at the very least, to speak out against some of its worst practices... which are often sanctioned by authorities.

It is one thing for a rapist to go free because the police do not catch him. Quite another for gang rapists to be excused on cultural grounds, or to be captured only when there is world wide outcry.

Of course, much of what is committed in the name of Islam is committed or countenanced by governments.

These actions are systematically used to terrorize the population, and especially women.

I recently learned of a marriage ceremony in Gaza, where 450 girls-- who look like they are under 10 years old-- were married of to adult men in their 20s. A quick Google search will give you the pictures.

Now, leaders of Hamas attended this ceremony. It was barely noticed or reported in the West, because Hamas is the new representative of a persecuted group.

And then, the famously moderate Imam Rauf has been quoted in support of the Khomeinist revolution in Iran... via Christopher Hitchens.

And Imam Rauf has also compared America unfavorably to al Qaeda.

So much for moderation.

As many Europeans have found out, Islamic demands for tolerance and respect only go in one direction. In many European countries Muslims demand to have concerns respected while not tolerating the concerns of anyone else.

Europeans are supposed to suspend free speech laws because Muslims find certain images offensive, and because they will express their offense violently.

What can Americans do? At the least they can oppose building the mosque at Ground Zero on moral grounds. It is a gesture of disrespect for America, for those who lost their lives on 9/11 and an attempt to exploit American tolerance in order to send out the Muslim call to prayer from what Imam Rauf called the rubble of the World Trade Center.

People should understand the stakes here. And they should make their voices be heard.

Stuart,"If terrorists have hijacked Islam, then clearly it is for Muslims to take their religion back."All the 'terrorism' in the world is run out of M-eye-5. Please go check their symbol, it is a pyramid with an eye at the top, standard illuminati symbol. It is exactly the same symbol as is on your USD 1 Bill. You might ask yourself why the symbol for M-eye-5 is on the dollar bull of the 'independent' united states of america. It's because you are not independent.

Mossad and the CIA co-operate fully with M-eye-5 in running these 'terrorist' plots. The biggest terrorists are your guvments. Might be time you learned about this stuff. And yes, 9-11 was an inside job. I was there at Thanks Giving after the 'attack' and saw that there was still fires and molten steel around. Having worked in a steel works, including on mechanical testing on structual steels, I knew full well there should be no molten steel at ground zero six weeks later. I told the mate I was with that something was 'very wrong' with this picture. That there should be no molten steel and no fires. So it came as nu suprise to me that 9-11 was an inside job. Just like the Reichstag building. The muslims are actually heros. They know that 'freedom and democracy' are code words for 'slavery and tyranny' and they a fighting to the death to stop the spread of the REAL 'evil empire', the british. Who are using the US as their military wing and the vatican as their reglious wing. Why do you think Bush Snr accepted his Knighthood? Why do you think he knelt before teh Queen? You think that was 'just ceremonial'? Time to 'wake up'.

Stuart, one might ask, what are Americans doing to stop this BP oil disaster? The whole world is wondering why we aren't protesting and demanding and lynching the Oil Kingpins. But the better question is, what CAN Americans do? I, as an ordinary, working citizen can't do much. Probably all I can do to prevent disasters like this is not become an Oil Tycoon.

Same with our wars. The whole world is asking why the entire country hasn't protested on mass and impeached every President who started or continued them - but, what can individual, ordinary Americans who have bills to pay and kids to feed DO?

The most we can do is probably not put a "Support the Troops" bumper sticker on our cars, raise our kids to loathe the military industrial complex and not sign up at school recruitments.

So ... same with ordinary Muslims around the world who have kids to feed.

There's not much they CAN do to stop the madness.

Nonetheless, just a little online research reveals hundreds of human rights and womens' rights organizations within Muslim countries doing their bit to bring in equality - and yes, they are run by Muslims.

Go to some mosques in your state. You might find that there ARE indeed imams and preachers speaking out against terrorism, but you'll never know that if you don't mix with Muslims. All you will think is what you see on TV.

Because you are not on TV protesting the BP oil spilloes that mean you support it?

Do you have an obligation to pimp yourself out as an anti-BP protestor in the media if you are opposed to it?

That line of argument just doesn't make sense and is practically impossible to implement for millions of ordinary, working Muslims who just want their kids to be fed and safe.

And like Globalman said above, what was portrayed in the media is not how it went down in real life.

Norad and Eschelon make it IMPOSSIBLE for any such event to happen without prior knowledge.

What to speak of buildings that have been flown into do not "go down" in the manner shown on TV, at least not according to architects and scientists.

SSS,"But the better question is, what CAN Americans do?"You can do in Amercia exactly what I am doing in Australia. Exactly what MANY americans are doing. Google 'Restore America Plan'. There are good people working on restoring the rule of law in your country.

In Australia I have, at personal expense of about USD400K and 2,500 hours effort, run two family law cases in Dublin and Sydney. I have video recorded a sitting federal court magistrate magistrate saying 'Talk of inalienable rights is a nonsense' and refusing to answer the question as to whether he is serving under oath. I am bringing common law cases against two magistrates and a judge as well as my ex.

Some good men have to stand up against this tyranny and I am one of them. I invite others to do so. And the way to do it is via the common law angle which still exists in the US (ex-LA) despite what your liars/lawyers will tell you.

Well guys, I HAVE travelled widely, having worked in at LEAST 20 countries all over the world. The only place I haven't worked is south america. And I know TONS of muslims as I living in Riyadh for 15 months. Yep, I was there when they were blowing up compounds and shooting people in the street. Lots went on that was not reported to the west.Muslim men are good men. Sure, some bad apples among them just like any other religion. But these men I met? They are 'salt of the earth guys' and they are FAR poorer than the average western man. Because of poligamy the men at the bottom of the pile in the muslim world are dis-enfranchised as they have little hope of ever having a son to dedicate their life to. The same is happening in the west now that the role of 'father' has been abolished and is being dismantled. Men who have no chance of having a son will not labour more than they need to and many will actively destroy a society that so alienates them.

I am an example of a man who will not labour more than I need to any more. So. You can take it from me. It's zip to do with religion. And religions were all invented by the Illuminati anyway. They are control grids.

SSS,"As a busy working mom, how can I do this? There was a case of gang rape in my town and the criminals got "probation". I sympathized with the victim, but as a politically powerless and financially struggling ordinary American, what more can I do?"You are a 'busy working mom' because your sistas brainwashed so many of your sistas to throw yourselves into the slavery of 'career'. That was as stupid a thing as I have EVER seen bought by a group of people.As far as your 'gang rape' and probation goes? Us men have seen endless cases of women crying 'rape' and men going to jail for years and years on false allegations. So don't be looking to men for sympathy if this rape even happened which, more than likely, it didn't. You women don't take rape seriously. Your sistas will sue 'I was raped' as an excuse to be late to class or to get rid of a husband they are 'bored' with.What can you do? For a year I have asked women to create common law juries. You can read about it here:http://freemanireland.ning.com/forum/topics/comments-gms-proposedI am telling young men to refuse to be the unpaid body guard for any woman, which is what we do today, until such time as women will create courts and judge and punish women who have committed crimes against men. In a year, and having spoken to audiences of THOUSANDS of women? I have 6. That's pathetic. Common law exists and is superior to legislation in all former British Colonies. Only men are too stupid and willfully ignorant to look that up. I even quoted Blacks Law Dictionary Second Edition directly on the spearhead on this topic and the men are too stupid to get what that really means.